Wednesday, December 28, 2016

By Neil Randall

Publisher: Crooked Cat

Pub. Date: January 24, 2017

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

In the world of suspense and mystery, plausibility is an big issue. The
task for most mystery writers is to make the implausible plausible. A
good mystery novel is often loaded with coincidences and those
coincidences must be such that the reader is willing to suspend belief
at least for a little while as the author patches them up to create a
believable whole and a believable conclusion.

The issues with Isolation
is all about plausibility. The plot starts with an unlikely premise and
is then loaded with one thing on top of another. To a certain extent it
works. The author, Neil Randall, has a lightning style that keeps
throwing weird things at you and leave you wanting for more...and a
resolution. The set-up is certainly irresistible. Nigel Randolph is an
unassuming man who works in a government office taking safety
complaints. He receives a photograph of what appears to be a murder
scene. At first he thinks it is a prank but changes his mind when the
exact same scene shows up on the news. He reports it to the police and
becomes more involved when it is discovered the two murdered women
were,along with Nigel, part of a therapy group ten years earlier when he
was having mental health problems. Pretty soon there are other deaths
of people Nigel knew and they all seem to be related to that therapy
group.

There are other strange clues. A drawing of an great
horned owl keeps showing up coupled with a Native American myth. A new
girl friend comes into his life while an old girl friend is writing
things about Nigel that is the opposite of what he remembered. And of
course, he is quickly becoming the police's prime suspect. It all mounts
up quite well until a situation involving Nigel going to a house to
investigate a complaint really stretches my ability to suspend
disbelief. It never quite recovers from that point. But the storytelling
skills of Randall is good enough to keep my interest until...

The
ending. Oh, that ending. I certainly do not want to ruin it but it is a
cliche. It explains the piling of coincidence but in the least original
way possible. What the author meant to be a shock become merely a groan
and deadens any enthusiastic for wanting the author to wrap up all the
loose ends. It's too bad since I really did like the build-up regarding
of the heightening of the implausibility. Yet that style of build-up
always risks falling off the edge and this edge is off the Empire State
Building, so to speak.

It isn't that an ending like this can't
work. It simply doesn't. In order for it to work we need an inkling of a
clue so when we get there we can say, "Why didn't I see that coming."
We do not get it. What should feel like a surprise feels more like a
cheat. It is too bad because the plot really grabbed me at least for a
while. Neil Randall writes well and to some extent there was good
structuring of his plot. Yet if an author piles on the implausible there
must be a climax that pulls it off. That is what's missing and why I
can not recommend Isolation

Monday, December 26, 2016

By Barry James

Publisher: After Hours Publishing

Pub Date: March 11, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

When we last encountered Jordan Hanson, he has just finished
defeating the evil Ackerman and the Mandragorans who were close to
annihilating the human race. It is five years later and the battle has
left many portals to other dimensions open. Jordan and his crew are
patrolling and fighting the dangerous creatures who pass through the
portals.. But recently, an alchemist and a rogue angel have presented a
far greater danger that once again threaten to enslave humans and they
may be far more powerful that Team Jordan.

This is the premise of Realms of Shadows the second book of Barry James' Mondragoran Chronicles. I have previously reviewed the first book, Dreams of Darkness
and, while I enjoyed and recommended it, I found it had a number of
common problems that appear in independently published first books. It
was still strong enough for me to look forward to the second book. I am
pleased to say any quibbles I had with the first book has dissipated
with the second. Realms of Shadow is a tighter effort in all
ways. The book is shorter at 336 pages than the first but it seems more
detailed and complex in the depiction of both the action and the fantasy
world. James has created a fully formed alternate reality Earth with
lots of creatures, many taken from other mythologies, that serve as
Jordan's enemies and allies. The dialog is also tighter and doesn't
break up the action like it did before which is perhaps the best
improvement for one who likes their urban fantasy to be action-packed.
And as I predicted, Jordan has found himself a girl friend yet it is
casually immersed enough within the story not to be paranormal romance.
(Thank God!)

Jordan continues to be the focus and an interesting
protagonist. He is perfecting control of the monster within him and
seems to be less in conflict with it. There is still some brooding but
it is smarter and more task-directed. The other members of his group are
all essential to the plot. I am tempted to say there is a bit of "Buffy
and the Scooby Gang" in this second novel due to their focus on mission
and their camaraderie and that is a good thing which is essential to
drive forward a series like this. My favorite addition is Lori, a child
seer with a lot of spunk for someone whose fate is not promising. She
has just the right amount of smart-assery for a gifted kid. "Which part
of 'I can see the future' did you not get?" Another nice touch is that
the more casual parts feel steeped in the culture of Seattle where the
action takes palace. I mean where else can a group of demon fighters
feel natural discussing sorcery, demons, and plans of attack while
sipping Awake tea and a white chocolate mocha at a Starbucks. And
knowing Seattle, I could envision that not one customer thought this was
unusual until the blood wraith showed up!

Realms of Shadow
ends up a very strong contender in the urban fantasy genre. It is a
improvement on the already promising start of the first volume. James'
story remains very dark but very readable. Its villains and monsters are
well described and formidable but it is Jordan and his team that really
make the book such a delight. It should be noted that this novel can be
read without the first book since the author has combined a detailed
synopsis of the first book in the second chapter to get the reader up to
speed. But I do recommend reading them in order. I am looking forward
to the next installment.

Monday, December 19, 2016

By James Gleick

Publisher: Pantheon

Pub. Date: September 27, 2016

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

James Gleick starts off with a bombshell. One we should all already know
but we don't want to admit. Time travel is impossible. At least the
two-way type that we would all like to do. He does mention "time travel"
as implied in speed of light travel but that isn't really time travel
is it? That's more like a suspended animation that you stay awake for. .
It is a Rip Van Winkle effect proven by experiments with atomic clocks.
But the touristy version of time travel to the past and forward and
back again? Fascinating. Tempting, However the sad fact is science and
physics fights against the idea of that being a reality.

So why
write a book of time travel, especially a history of time travel?
Because the concept is so embedded in our brain that it pretty much
affects everything in our modern world. It is in our literature, our
media, and even in physics as it grapple with the paradoxes set forward
in the many thought exercises that time travel gives us. After all, If
quantum physics isn't an exercise in the paradoxes of our reality, what
is?

Gleick starts his history with H. G. Wells and his novel The Time Machine.
Pretty much everything we accept about the idea, including the idea of
time as a fourth dimension, comes from Wells. From there he explores
several ideas that continue to rise from the literature to come and how
Physics chugs along right with them. Time Travel is basically a
series of meanderings. It feels more like a continuing mind game,
despite its chronological pattern, rather than a history of anything.
That may offset a few people that want something really about time
travel but for others, like myself, it is an almost poetic if
challenging way to look at our perceptions. This is the kind of book
more understood at a chapter at a time so you can absorb its idea.
Definitely not a light read, it is still one that entertains while
informing. If you like the topic, this is a must.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

By MP Johnson

Publisher: WeirdPunk Books

Pub. Date: October 5, 2016

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I'm not exactly sure what M. P. Johnson is doing here but it
is lots of fun watching him do it. The subtitle "Forgotten B-Movies of
the 80" says it all. Neon Trash is a love story to those films
that no one has seen and most people won't even try to. Fortunately
there are a few people out there, like the author and myself, that lives
for this stuff. Johnson in the first article, makes a case for loving
B-movies (let's be frank. Most of 80s DIY movies are really D-movies)
but makes a better case for reading the capsule reviews of the films
that he will proceed to mention. He follows up with synopses of 52
films, none that I have ever heard of. That is actually quite a feat.
These capsule reviews are quite fun. This is followed with interviews by
actors and makers of these films. Again, none I have ever heard of.
Hmmm. He pays particular attention to a movie titled Neon Meltoids
of which I could find no mention of on the internet. It must be very
obscu...wait a minute. None of these movies can be found on the
internet! Am I being screwed with?

OK. Mr. Johnson. You had your
fun. I almost fell for it! Even as the humor it is, it is still a nice
salute to the 80's B-Movie era. I must say the best chapter in this book
is "Trash Tape Quest: My Hunt for Neon Meltoids". It is hilarious!

So
how does one rate something like this? It is very weird. It is very
funny. It is very short. It is a merry prank in print. Let's just call
it a delicious fart and leave it at that!

Friday, December 16, 2016

Here is my list of top ten novels of 2016.in order of preference. I also added various other bests under the list.

1. THE HEAVENLY TABLE - Donald Ray Pollock

2. DARK MATTER - Blake Crouch

3. MONGRELS - Stephen Graham Jones

4. BEFORE THE FALL - Noah Hawley

5. THE VIOLATORS - Vincenzo Bilof

6. A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE - Josh Malerman

7. DEAD SOULS - J. Lincoln Fenn

8. PUNK ROCK GHOST STORY - David Agranoff

9. DISAPPEARANCE AT DEVIL'S ROCK - Paul Tremblay

10. SQUIRM WITH ME - Andersen Prunty

Now the best of the rest.

Best single author anthology (tie)

THE DOLL MAKER AND OTHER TALES OF TERROR - Joyce Carol Oates

ECSTATIC INFERNO - Autumn Christian

Best multiple author collection

TALES AND SCALES - edited by John Palisano

Best YA Novel

THE GREATEST ZOMBIE MOVIE EVER - Jeff Strand

Best novel of 2015 read in 2016

ZERO SAINTS - Gabino Iglesias

Best WTF! Novel (besides the already mentioned THE VIOLATORS)

VAMPIRE GUTS IN NUKE TOWN - Kevin Strange

Best non-fiction

TIME TRAVEL - James Gleick

Best Poetry book

RHYME & REBELLION - Harry Whitewolf

Best journal/magazine

DARK DISCOVERIES

And finally some honorable mentions which means I am distraught because I couldn't put more than 10 books on a top ten list. No particular order (this just happens to complete all the 2016 novels I gave five stars to.)

Thursday, December 15, 2016

By David Agranoff

Publisher: Deadite Press

Pub Date: September 23, 2016

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I like books that evoke an era. I like horror novels. David
Agranoff does both quite well at the same time. He likes to write about
the punk rock era of the 80s and beyond. He does it very well. Other
authors may incorporate punk rock in their fiction but Agranoff does it
with a wistfulness coupled with a realism that our memories of an era
can be more harmful than helpful if we don't recognize the realities of
today. It is not that different than the struggles I had in the sixties
and onward with the "hippie" movement. Both evokes memories and
conflicts that are ripe for exploration in literature, even horror.

Punk Rock Ghost Story
(PRGS)seems to be about that struggle. As we begin the novel, Frank and
his punk rock group The Fuckers are touring across the country in 1982
dreaming of a possible concert with Black Flag once they reach Los
Angeles. The tour is a disaster and just out of Houston, the band
members decide they want to return home to Indiana. Frank forces them to
continue and seems to be on the verge of an unreasonable and violent
obsession.

Fast forward to 2006. Nate and his band People's
Uprising is about to go on tour. They are a struggling punk band in
Indiana that dreams of breaking out of the locals and into more renown
with their tour. Nate loves the punk scene but wonders if it has lost
something from its start in the 80s. While looking for a tour van, he
stumbles across a beat up van that was used for the Fuckers' last
legendary tour where Frank disappeared and was never seen again.
People's Uprising goes on tour but the van has a hold on Nate as he
listens to eerie voices and visions while the rest of the band becomes
concerned with his memory losses and personality changes.

So now
we have a ghost story coupled with a mystery. Is the van haunted,? What
happened to Frank on his last tour? What is happening to Nate?
Everything is eventually revealed but not without a number of scares and
some violence. As a ghost story, PRGS is very successful and kept me
enthralled with the mystery and strangeness of the tale. But what really
makes it memorable is Agranoff's blending of time and culture. Punk in
the 80s was indeed a golden time. But it was not the nirvana that
memories may make it. Reality never is. Outside the cities, punk were
subjected to suspicion and often violence. They were misunderstood as
anything unusual or new is often misunderstood. Frank's anger became
part of that and, with Nate, the van recognizes a similar anger and
longing and exploits that. The author's evoking of the punk culture
seems real in both its contemporary and 80s incarnations. I am not sure
it is a coming of age story or a returning to another age story and I
like that. Nate's relationship to band member and girl friend Erika is
also a central part of the plot and become essential to how it plays
out.

It is said that writers should write about what they know
and Agranoff certainly knows his punk rock culture. But there is more
than that. He is able to communicate beyond the punk rockers and make
that scene a reality for those who do not identify with it. He may write
in the horror genre but the theme goes well beyond just the scares and
that is why we should read his works. He is still in his prime so we can
expect more like this. That is definitely a good thing.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

By Hunter Shea

Publisher: Severed Press

Pub Date: November 1, 2016

Rating: 3 & 1/2 out of 5 stars

Natalie, her twin brother Austin and her parents were vacationing at
Loch Ness, Scotland 20 years ago. One night while camping and roasting
marshmallows, Natalie and Austin heard a splash of water followed by
screams. When they arrived at the shore, they see a creature in the
water killing her parents. Forward wind to the present. Natalie is now
camped out on that very shore trying to prove the existence of the Loch
Ness Monster.

And kill it.

OK. Now that kind of bugged me
right there. I grew up on stories of Nessie. The Loch Ness Monster for
all intent and purpose is Scotland's mascot. The only death ever blamed
on Nessie was in 1952 when a water ripple from the big oaf was said to
called a speedboat crash. Nessie didn't stick around to swap insurances.
Nessie must be the most beloved figure of monster lore on the planet.
So the idea of the water seprent as a vicious man-eater took a little
work to sink in.

Fortunately, Hunter Shea is a bit of an expert
on monsters. They seem to be his specialty with at least his last two
books taking on other known legends of crypto-zoology. The challenge in Loch Ness Revenge
is to set up his future monster killer with a past that lets us in on
her suffering and obsession. If you are going to kill a beloved icon,
you better have a good reason. But this is a short novella that means we
need to get to the chase quickly. So once the protagonist is set, we
are introduced to her twin brother and a couple of colorful sidekicks
and we're off!

Then there is the monster. Shea has its own
version of the Loch Ness Monster. We are given glimpses of it as Natalie
seeks it out and the author reveals more as the hunt escalates. As the
novel proceeds, we get a few surprises and lots of action right to the
final showdown.

So how does the whole thing work? It is not
nearly as complex as Shea's previous novels which makes sense because it
is much shorter at less than 150 pages. There may be a few too many
incidents that seem to be borrowed from Jaws. However it works
because it is fun. If it doesn't stretch your mind, that's OK. It is an
amusing read with enough thrills to keep the reader satisfied. And I
wouldn't lose too much sleep over the scary creature that Mr. Shea has
conjured up from his mind. I am sure that Nessie is simply a sweet, if
huge, eel-like critter that loves to float on the lake and wake at the
tourists. We all must have our fantasies.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Edited by Brad C. Hodson & Benjamin Kane Ethridge

Publisher: Dark Regions Press

Pub Date: May 22, 2016

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I kept thinking of a cinematic comparison while reading Madhouse. There was a movie in the 70s called Asylum.
It had a screenplay by Robert Bloch and featured a number of stories
set in the confines of a mental institution. There was also a framing
story that very loosely tied all the others together. It is one of the
better horror anthology movies that you will find.

Madhouse
is a little like that. It also has a connecting framing story about the
patients and staff who are isolated in an Arizona mental facility
during a sandstorm. These "chapters" as they are called, are written by
the editors Brad C Hodson and Benjamin Kane Ethridge. Between these
chapters are 20 pieces of short fiction contributed by a number of
horror and fantasy writers including John Skipp, Scott Nicholson, Lisa
Morton, Rena Mason, Jeff Strand and others. As I understand it, all the
authors were given a layout of the fictional Golden Canyon Behavioral
Health Center to keep the stories consistent with the shared world
environment. Whether they knew of the on-going narration before they
wrote their stories is unknown to me. However the characters in the
chapters do show up in the stories and there seem to be some consistency
with characters as well as the confines of the center.

That part
about how much the author worked within the confines of the connecting
narration is what troubles me. I think they knew little beyond the bare
basics because, for the most part, it feels like a jumble. That makes it
confusing to follow. Because of this, no one story stands out and makes
the collection work. There are some very good tales here. I especially
like those by John Palisano, John Skipp., and Jeff Strand. Not so much
the chapters by Hodgson and Ethridge which is unfortunate because that
is the thread that supposedly binds them together. The full sum of the
parts just didn't work for me.

What does work is the overall
design of the book and the illustrations that accompany the collection.
Dark Regions Press has a stellar reputation for the design and
appearance of their publications and Madhouse does not disappoint
in this area. There are lots of gorgeous and creepy illustrations from
Aeron Alfrey that are worth the price of the admission alone and they do
add a great bit of atmosphere to the accompanying stories.

But
it doesn't really gel together in the literary department despite the
quality of writing. It's a noble experiment but, as a screenwriter and
sometimes critic friend of mine would say, "It's a interesting failure."

Friday, December 2, 2016

By Joe R. Lansdale

Publisher: Subterranean Press

Pub date: January 31, 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The saga of Hap and Leonard continues with this barely-a-novella, Coco Butternut.
In case you are wondering, Coco Butternut is a dead dachshund. Its body
has been dug up and held for ransom to be paid by the previous owner of
the dog. To be more precise, the son of the previous owner who was his
deceased mother. It seems like a simple task for the lads; pay the
ransom and collect the coffin and the canine "pickled"corpse ("Embalmed
and wrapped like a mummy..Not pickled" says the dog owner's son Farmer
to Leonard). But something doesn't seem right and when they complete the
deal, it becomes obvious to them why it doesn't seen right...

As
far as Hap and Leonard stories go, this is a barely inconsequential
one. I am tempted to call it my least favorite book but my least
favorite Lansdale work is still better than 90% of other writer's best
works. It is short, sweet and simple...and doesn't really give us any
new insight to the duo and their extended family. We now have Chance,
Hap's daughter, in the gang but nothing is really added here except
maybe that Chance is spending too much time around Leonard and picking
up a little attitude. There is nothing amiss with the story either,
except we really do not learn much of what happened after Hap's
flirtation with death in the last substantial novel, Honky Tonk Samurai. I think we may need to wait for the next substantial novel, Rusty Puppy for the details.

Basically,
the Hap and Leonard novellas that has recently bridged the gap between
novels are diversions. They are entertaining and well written as is
anything Lansdale puts to paper. But they are not essential. This one
may be the least essential of them all. It still merits three stars. I
love this series and can't even think of rewarding it less but I really
hope no Hap and Leonard novice starts with this book. That would be
dismaying.

About Me

My name is Marvin P. Vernon and I am a retired social worker who specialized in family therapy and domestic violence prevention. In the past, I have been a contributor to the Fact on File Student Thesaurus and currently pass my time as an avid reader and reviewer. I also work as a volunteer librarian at the Sun City Palm Desert Library. You can also find my reviews on Goodreads You can contact me at mpvernon5149@yahoo.com